NEWS AND EVENTS

On this page you will find information about upcoming events, as well as some items from our monthly newsletter. Newsletters are available in our church office. We are making every effort not to pubish individual phone numbers or email addresses on the website. If you would like to receive our newsletter or if you have other questions, call the church office at 781-275-7951 or email us at fchurchb2@verizon.net.

First Church’s 60th Annual Fall Fair 2009

Friday, November 13th from 6:00-9:00 p.m.

Saturday, November 14th from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (Please note time change.)

Are you NEW at First Church? The Fall Fair (jot down the dates) is not organized by a club or group within the church, but is an all-church event organized and staffed by your fellow parishioners. Help is needed from EVERYONE; please look for sign-up sheets during coffee time on Sundays.

OPEN BID AUCTION is looking for donations of antiques, specialty crafts, crystal, like-new items, artistic creations, or whatever. The time line for fair week will let you know what days to drop them off.

Fall housecleaning in progress? The WHITE ELEPHANT TABLE NEEDS YOUR DISCARDS! REMEMBER – NO FABRIC, NO CLOTHES, NO JARS (EXCEPT CANNING JARS), NO TVs, NO COMPUTER MONITORS, NO BROKEN ITEMS.

Remember, USED TOYS AND GAMES, USED BOOKS AND MEDIA are also looking for items for their tables. Please start gathering these items for Fair week now!

POSTERS – Bright orange posters will be popping up all over town advertising our Fair. If you would like one to post at work, please help yourself to those in the Narthex, at coffee time, or outside the church office. We have an out-of-town following! Let’s spread the word!

Please do not bring items on Friday.

Fall Fair--November 13 (6PM-9PM) & 14 (9:30AM-2:30PM)

November 19 Masons/1st Church Red Cross Blood Drive from 2:00—7:00 p.m.

Nov 22 Town Thanksgiving Service here

Nov 26 Thanksgiving

Nov 29 After service Advent workshop & lunch

Dec 2 Soul Sisters Yankee Swap

Dec 5 Babysitting Fundraiser

Dec 6 Family Christmas Party

Dec 13 CMS Gifts

Dec 13 Post Fair Sale

From Paul Nickerson, Associate Conference Minister for Evangelism, Vitality and New Church Starts, Massachusetts Conference, United Church of Christ:

“This fall, your Evangelism and Congregational Vitality Commission is offering a number of events to strengthen your church. I hope your church will bring a team. Our goal is for every congregation to continue to go deeper in faith and reach out in powerful new ways. If you have a need that we are not addressing, please be in touch with me so that we can get you the training and coaching that will help your congregation to flourish.”

November 14th: More Members for your Congregation: A workshop for church teams to learn how to understand the community around them, how to network and how to design events that will be on target.

Are You On the Church  “Group” E-Mail?  Would you like to be in this group?  If so, please notify the church office.  We send out notices about upcoming events, deaths, UCC items of interest, etc.  It is the news we send out between newsletters.

Note:  We have email addresses for many who are not on the group list.  These addresses were given to staff members for other purposes.  If you gave your address to a staff member for a specific purpose, but were also thinking you would automatically be included in the group list, this did not happen.

Also, if you are already on the group e-mail list for First Church, but have changed your e-mail address, please notify the church office with the change.

Below is a link to a pdf document for you to download and print if you are one who requested the corn shuffle recipe or chicken casserole recipe that Julie Braschler prepared for the luncheon for Jim Antal.  Enjoy!

Our Communications Guidelines were developed in the fall of 2008 and approved by Cabinet in October 2008.

The Frank W. Thompson Lodge, A.F. & A.M., Bedford, MA and The First Church of Christ, Congregational are sponsoring an American Red Cross Blood Drive on Thursday, November 19, 2009 from 2:00 PM to 700 PM in Upper Fellowship Hall of The First Church of Christ, Congregational, 25 The Great Road, Bedford.

Donors are needed to help maintain blood supplies for area hospital patients. anyone who is 17 or older, who is in good health, who weighs 110 pounds or more, and who has not given blood in the past 56 days may try to donate. Please help the Red Cross maintain a safe and available blood supply for the community. The American Red Cross requires a positive ID before donating. Please drink plenty of fluids before donating. No appointments needed. For frequently asked questions, go to http://www.newenglandblood.org/faq.htm.

Have you noticed, here at First Church, how it is the 60th anniversary of so many events?  I wonder what was going on in 1949-50 that started some of our most time-honored activities such as the Turkey Dinner, the Fall Fair and the Strawberry Festival.

Does anyone have any photos of our church (or of people at these events) from that era?  Do you have any memories or stories to pass along?  If you have any anecdotes or picture I’d love to record them, possibly for a booklet or as part of the Annual Report.  Please see Julie Braschler, call or e-mail her at julieb24@verizon.net if you have anything to share.

We are looking for a donation of another computer...a PC with GHz speed or more and a 17-inch monitor or larger. Some of our older computers are beginning to fail and we would like to have a backup in place. For many years we have been blessed with the generous contributions of your used computers, which we do put to good use...thank you!

Thank you to those who have already signed up to fix coffee on Sunday mornings. To continue this tradition we need volunteers. The job entails putting a glass of water on the pulpit for our pastor before the service; making coffee, hot water for tea, and ice water for after the service and possibly providing a few cookies, donut holes, or crackers, etc. It also involves serving and cleaning up. The signup sheet is on the bulletin board—there are many spots to be filled! Talk a friend into helping you. We encourage boards, committees, and individuals to sign up to take a turn fixing coffee. Nobody has volunteered to coordinate this so we are doing this on faith! And if nobody signs up, then there will be no coffee hour.

Declaring your membership at First Church can signify more to you than just fostering deeper friendships, offering your children a valuable church school experience, or helping out with church activities. All of these are important but there is more to it. Becoming a member is an agreement between yourself and the congregation that you are willing to help make the decisions which build its strength for the future. That as a full member of this church family (which decides its long-term objectives and governs its own affairs), you care for this tiny branch of that Body of Christ (about which we hear in Sunday School and worship). This Christian congregation of which you are a part has an historic past, a pro-active present and, most importantly, looks toward a future with shared goals which empower all of us as caring Christians. God IS still speaking! Will you be a helper in the listening and the learning?

Our pastor will be very glad to answer your questions and offer orientation to First Church’s life and organization as well as the meaning of church membership.